Believe in Me
by CrushingOnSans
Summary: Red and Blue are soulmates. What happens when one of them forgets that?
1. Forgotten

_"Hi! I'm Blue! What's your name?"_

 _He held out his hand towards the other, who looked at him distrustfully and made no move to take it. "That's a stupid name," he growled, his gold tooth flashing slightly in the light._

 _Blue just shrugged and smiled, withdrawing his hand. "Well, I like it, and that's what really matters!" he said brightly, then continued. "I don't think I caught your name."_

 _The other sighed loudly and stuffed his hands deeper into the pockets of his scuffed leather jacket. "Sans, same as the rest of you fuckers," he said finally._

 _Blue frowned. "Please watch your language," he insisted, prompting a laugh from the other._

 _"What, you got a fucking problem?"_

 _Blue's frown deepened, and he stepped forward, into the other's personal space. "As a matter of fact, I do," he said, narrowing his eyes. The other looked surprised for a moment, then opened his mouth as if to speak. Blue interrupted him with a laugh, then clapped a hand on his shoulder and stepped back. "I'm just kidding!" he said brightly._

 _The other gaped at him for a moment, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to find the words to express his confusion. Blue didn't give him the chance, however, grabbing his elbow and beginning to drag him in the direction of the refreshment table, chattering away. "And I know your name is Sans, of course! But we can't all be Sans, that would be confusing! So you need a nickname! Ooo, we should match!"_

 _"Why the hell would we match?" the other growled, the red magic in his eye sockets flaring slightly as he considered whether or not he should be trying to get away from the smaller skeleton or simply punching him in the face._

 _Blue turned back to face him, a huge, happy smile across his face. "Because besties always have to match!"_

Red hated patrols. If he had to have a stupid, useless job, why did he have to get exercise while doing it? It was unnecessary. But what Fell said, went, so Red found himself stomping through the woods angrily, practically daring anyone to jump out and cause trouble. He shouldn't be working. He shouldn't even be in UnderFell. He should be tearing apart the multiverse to- He was jerked out of his reverie as he kicked at a clump of snow he was walking by and managed to trip over a rock that had been hidden underneath it.  
Cursing, he fell onto his face, having failed to break his fall with his arms. He lay there and groaned for a solid two minutes before he heaved himself back to his feet and turned to the offending rock. He considered prying it out of the ground and finding out exactly how much magic was required to shatter it into pieces, but decided it wasn't worth the effort and just stomped on it instead.  
He continued on, grumbling more loudly now, but he had barely gotten five feet before he tripped again, this time managing to find his balance before he fell.  
"Oh, fuck you, ya piece of shit rock!" he yelled. He whipped around to look for it, deciding that it was, in fact, worth his time to destroy the thing.  
Instead of a rock, he was confronted with the brightest orange thing he had seen in a very long time. It was some sort of cloth, partially covering a figure that was facedown in the snow.

Cautiously, he approached it, summoning a long, thin bone construct in one hand. He stopped a little ways from the prone monster, then held out the bone, lightly poking whatever it was, then jumping back like a small child with a bug when the thing responded by moving slightly. Steeling himself, he flipped the orange piece of cloth off of the potential threat, then jumped back again.  
It was a skeleton. A fairly small skeleton, even smaller than him, if that were possible. Unlike him, their bones were perfect and unmarked, the stretches of whiteness practically gleaming in the soft light of the forest. Their face was pressed into the ground, soft breaths the only sign they was still alive. They were clutching tightly to the orange piece of cloth, as though afraid that it would be taken away from them, and they were clothed only in a white t-shirt and dark pants.  
Red recognized him immediately, beginning to panic slightly as he crouched down and reached to flip him over, hesitating for a moment when he realized that the orange cloth was going to impede him in that goal, as tangled into the back of the other's ribcage and arms as it was.  
Red reached for the awful thing, grasping what he now realized was a sweatshirt of some kind by the sleeve, his panic keeping him from making any significant connections from it, and attempting to pull it away from him. If anything, the small phalanges only curled into the cloth tighter, and he began hearing small gasping whimpers that told him the skeleton was awake, which made him breathe a sigh of relief and wonder why he wasn't getting up on his own. He stopped pulling on the hoodie for a moment, and instead kneeled and took the other by the shoulder, flipping him over carefully.  
Red's breath hitched when he saw what was stopping the other from doing anything. There was a slash through his whole ribcage, from his right clavicle to the edge of his left floating rib. Bright red marrow leaked from the wound, which Red found himself recognizing far too well.  
Then his eyes shifted up to the other's face and he sighed. "Blue?" he asked quietly, and though the other's tired, terrified eyelights showed no sign of recognition, he continued. "Where the hell have you been?"

Upon receiving no further response than faster, more panicked breathing, Red carefully slipped his arms under the smaller form and lifted, picking the other up with an ease that shouldn't have surprised him. Then he shortcutted directly to his room and laid Blue down on his bare mattress. He then blipped to the bathroom and back, now with the first aid kit.  
Marrow had completely soaked the white t-shirt, and Red hissed under his breath. How was he still alive? He started to remove the shirt, slipping one arm carefully through a sleeve, then turning to do the same with the other before he realized that he still had ahold of that awful orange sweatshirt that he should have immediately recognized. He gave it a tug, and when there was no sign of letting go, he grumbled under his breath and just lifted the shirt over his head, pushing the whole thing far enough down his arm so that he had room to work. Blue appeared to have passed out, having used some of the last of his energy to hold on to the hoodie.  
He began cleaning the wound, clearing away the marrow and bits of shattered bone, and...dust? Red frowned. Dust only came from monsters that had died, and Blue clearly was not dead. Then he caught sight of the gray smears on the orange coat, and it clicked.

Stretch...  
He finished cleaning the wound carefully, trying not to think about it. Then he was left with a stripe of broken ribs, the ends of which he applied ointment to and wrapped carefully.  
When he had finished, he stood up, taking the supplies back to the bathroom, then taking a shortcut down to the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge and grabbed a container of leftover lasagna. After quickly heating it up and grabbing a fork, he went back upstairs.  
Blue was awake again, but just barely. He looked around blearily as Red entered the room, not seeming to be able to focus. Red set down the container of food and silently helped the other sit up against the pillows. "Here," he said finally, picking up the lasagna and cutting off a small piece for the other to eat. "This will help you heal."

Blue opened his mouth mechanically, and Red pushed the fork in, making sure it was absorbed completely before getting a new piece. This way, the entire slice was gone in a few minutes, and the smaller skeleton was looking more and more alert. Finally, as he finished absorbing the final piece and Red set the empty container aside, he managed to choke out, "Who-who are you?"  
Red didn't answer immediately, looking at the other's round blue eyelights. "You don't know me?" he finally asked, but it was more of a statement than a question, and the other didn't bother to answer.  
Blue seemed confused for a moment, then said, "I-I'm Sans. Who are-"  
"Me too, sweetheart," Red cut him off gently when it seemed like he wouldn't be able to say anything else. "But people like you call me Red. Howsabout I call you Blue to match?"  
Blue just blinked at him for a moment before nodding tiredly. "Okay," he whispered, apparently too tired to question it.  
Red stood, picking up the now-empty container, and said, "You should try to sleep, alright? It'll help you heal. We can talk more the next time you wake up." **  
**Blue's eyes flashed with something like fear, and he seemed to be trying to sit up straighter, though all that accomplished was for him to scoot his arms back and let out a long, unfiltered groan of pain. Red gently made him lay down, whispering assurances under his breath, half to himself and half to Blue. When the other was settled and seemed to have calmed down enough to sleep, Red left the room quietly, letting his back rest against the door for a moment as he fought back tears. Then he went down to the kitchen and put the container in the sink, absentmindedly beginning to wash it, trying not to think about what it meant that Blue didn't seem to know who he was.


	2. Brother

_"Because I don't fucking want to talk to you, you little shit!" Red cried, attempting to close the door in Blue's face._

 _"Yes you do! Everyone wants to talk to the Sansational Blue! You don't have to be embarrassed by your love of my greatness!" Blue yelled back, pushing on the door relentlessly._

 _Fell was sitting calmly on the couch, completely ignoring the entire exchange in favor of the book he currently held in his hands._

 _"Are you fucking serious?" Red yelled back, trying unsuccessfully to push Blue out of the way._

 _"No, of course not, but you still need a friend and I'm here for you!" Blue gave an extra hard slam, knocking Red onto the floor and calmly letting himself into the house, closing the door behind him._

 _Red jumped to his feet, swearing loudly, about to forcibly pick the other up and throw him through the nearest window, when Fell stood up and set his book aside, glaring at the two of them._

 _"Can you two please keep it down? Some of us would like a little bit of peace and quiet!"_

 _Red grumbled under his breath about where he could stick his peace and quiet, but Blue shifted back and forth for a moment in silence. "You have a beautiful home, Fell!" he finally chirped nervously, but Fell just shook his head and walked into the kitchen._

 _They both watched him go, but Red turned back to Blue as soon as he was out of sight and hissed, "I will kill you if you do not leave right this minute."_

 _"No you won't!"_

 _Red was spluttering, and Blue grinned at him happily until he said, "Oh yeah? Fuckin' check me, then!"_

 _Blue cocked an eyebrow at him, but obeyed without another word. Red had almost the same stats as his brother, except…_

 _"See? I have LV. I really will kill you. So leave. Now."_

 _Blue regarded him carefully, rethinking some things. Then he nodded decisively and said, "No, you still won't kill me. I've heard about your world, and I can understand something about your situation. You must not have thought you had any other choice."_

 _Red had frozen completely, staring at him like he'd never seen him before._

 _Blue took a step forward and grabbed the other's hands, smiling kindly. "Besides, I know you can be better. Anyone can!"_

 _Red seemed to be fighting an internal battle, but finally, he sighed and pulled his hands away. "Fine, ya fucking blueberry. What do you want to do?"_

 _Blue's squeal of delight was enough to make even Fell smile from the next room._

Red had just finished drying the dishes when he heard the door slam open, his brother's shouting filling the house. "SANS! YOU LEFT YOUR POST EARLY, YOU-"  
Red practically ran to the doorway, swinging halfway around it and throwing a weak bone construct at his brother to get his attention. "Fuckin' shhhhhhh!" he hissed at the other, who seemed confounded by the fact that Red was daring to attack and then shush him. "Blue's trying to sleep upstairs," he added quietly, and Fell's mouth dropped open.

"Blue is back?" he asked, and Red nodded silently. "So you found him, then? He's okay?"  
Red moved back into the kitchen so that his brother couldn't see the look on his face as he said, "Yeah, kind of."  
He went back to washing the container, rinsing the soap off and drying it quickly as he heard his brother come into the kitchen.

"Kind of?"

"I found him while I was out patrolling...he was laying in the snow and he...he…"  
"Is he okay?"  
Red grasped onto the edge of the counter, breathing deeply. He opened his mouth, and a choked-off kind of sob came out before he could stop it. He set the container down very carefully, studiously avoiding looking at his brother as he said, "No. No, not really."  
There was a long moment of silence as Red tried to steady his breathing. He didn't want to show this kind of weakness in front of his brother. Crying because you were scared was just something you didn't do in this world, no matter how much you might want to. No, he needed to suck it up, to pretend he didn't care if Blue lived or died or forgot all about him-  
Another dry sob racked through his chest, and he found himself sitting on the floor very suddenly, with his brother holding him close to his chest and rubbing his back. He couldn't even appreciate the rare show of affection through the haze of fear and sadness that seemed to be pulling apart his soul from the inside.  
"What's wrong with him?" Papyrus asked quietly, still rubbing Red's back as he cried.  
"He-he had the-the.." Red couldn't find the words to say it, so he just made a slashing motion across his chest, and Papyrus nodded in understanding. "And h-he doesn't know m-me, he d-didn't r-recognize me at all, and h-he had S-stretch's sweatshirt, and th-that m-means-"  
"Stretch is dead?" Papyrus asked, surprised. "Why was he even in Swapverse? And isn't Blue supposed to go before Stretch?"  
Red nodded, still crying. He didn't know what this meant, that things had changed so drastically. He didn't know how to even begin to respond to the news that Stretch was dead. Not that the world held any permanence. He'd be back at some point.  
They sat there in silence for a long time, Red sobbing while his brother held him close. It was a role reversal for something they hadn't done since they were both children, starving on the streets of the Capitol, but Red couldn't appreciate it because he was so entirely stuck in the room upstairs next to the small skeleton sleeping in his worn-out bed.


	3. What Are We?

Blue really shouldn't have been surprised. He let his face sink into his hands as he sighed tiredly. Well. There was really nothing for it. There was no reason to sit here and wait for someone who was never going to come.

He stood quickly, leaving a large tip on the table as an apology for not ever having ordered anything, and left quickly, pulling out his phone.

Red answered on the third ring, his voice even scratchier than normal from lack of sleep. "What?" he growled, but Blue knew he didn't mean anything by it.

"Hey, Red," he said, making his way down the path towards his house. His voice sounded thick, which he attributed to the unshed tears of embarrassment. "Are...are you busy?"

"No...didn't you have a date tonight?"

Blue grimaced before answering, "Yeah. But they...uh...well they never showed. So I'm free! Want to go do something?". He forced a false note of happiness into his voice, hoping it would be enough to save what little face he had left.

There was a long moment of silence, and Blue considered telling the other not to worry about it when Red finally spoke. "Meet me in Taleverse in five minutes." then he hung up.

Blue looked down at the now-silent phone in confusion, then shrugged, making his way to the machine.

Fifteen minutes later, they stood in the middle of a carnival on the surface. Blue's previous sadness was forgotten, and he had both hands covering his mouth as he bounced up and down in excitement. Red was grinning at him, apparently pleased with himself.

"Oh, Red, this is so cool! Look at the roller coasters! And the cotton candy, Ooo, can we get some cotton candy?" he knew he was babbling but he didn't care, spinning around and seizing Red by both hands, his excitement making him talk so fast his words were nearly indecipherable.

Red was laughing, nodding along to the many questions being asked of him and following along as Blue began dragging him around from ride to booth to game. The excitement was contagious, and Red seemed almost as happy as Blue found himself.

Finally, they found themselves walking somewhat quietly between the booths, the sounds of a concert and the shouts of the carnies echoing past them.

"Thank you so much, Red. This was the most fun I've had in ages!" Blue said happily, pulling more cotton candy off the stick he was holding and putting it in his mouth to melt.

Red smiled at him, and said, "Of course. I'm not about to let some piece of shit robot get you down in the dumps."

"Language, Red"

They both laughed slightly, Blue eating more of his cotton candy.

"You know," said Red, looking up at the lights of the huge ferris wheel that towered above them. "This would make for a fun date sometime."

Blue grinned at him, elbowing him slightly. "Thinkin' about bringing Grillby here?"

Red made a face at him. "I've told you before, Blue, there's nothin' going on there. He's just not my type."

"What, not hot enough for you?" They both snickered at the pun before Blue continued. "But yeah, I can see what you mean."

He spun around, his arms thrown wide, almost losing his grip on the almost-empty stick he still held. "This place is amazing! I'd love to have my first kiss here! Or be proposed to or something!"

Red blushed, but Blue didn't notice, still spinning. "Proposed to? Wouldn't that be embarrassing?" he choked out, and Blue paused, arms still thrown out and head cocked to one side.

"Okay," he conceeded. Then he laughed, lowering his arms and coming back over to stand beside Red. "But it's definitely a requirement that they use one of those things instead of an actual ring!" he said pointing at a booth that held ring-pops and smiling widely.

Red grinned at him, blush still very much present, then bought two, holding them out to Blue for him to choose which flavor he wanted. Blue thought very carefully before taking the cherry-flavored one, eating the last of his cotton candy before ripping the little package open and slipping it on, snickering slightly at the sight it made against his bones.

He looked up to see that Red had also slipped the blue-raspberry flavored one on and was still blushing, looking at it very intently.

Blue reached out and grabbed his hand again, slipping back into his chatter and dragging Red in the direction of the ferris wheel, sucking idly at the ring pop whenever he stopped for breath.

When Red woke up, he didn't immediately realize where he was. Instead of facing his cracked ceiling, his face was pressed into something hard and metal, and his bones ached from sleeping in an odd position. He straightened his legs slowly and moved his arms out, pausing when they encountered a cold tile floor.  
Oh. Right. Fuck.  
He wiggled out of his sleeping brother's hold carefully, doing his best to avoid waking him.

Very quietly, he made his way out of the room and up the stairs, intending to check on Blue. He stopped by the bathroom on his way and grabbed the first aid kit just in case.

When he reached his door, he eased it open slightly, peeking in. Then he caught sight of the empty bed and swung it open all the way, panicking slightly. Where was Blue? Had he run off? Had someone-

He was pulled out of his thoughts very suddenly by a bone construct flying towards his face. Cursing, he dodged to the side to avoid it, then looked around the room for its source.

He found it all too quickly in the form of a small skeleton who was slightly out of sight of the door, shaking from exhaustion and probably pain and looking on the verge of collapsing.

"Hey! Whoa! Hang on, there, no need to attack me! I just brought some medical supplies!" he said, trying to act like he found this whole thing amusing. The cover didn't seem to work well, and he felt himself fall slightly farther into his panic. As far as he knew, Blue didn't attack anyonefirst, not even that damn human. What the hell was going on?

Suddenly Blue was stumbling, falling to the ground with his arms clutched around his injured ribs. "D-don't hurt me!" he begged, bowing his head.

Red felt his soul drop as he quickly made his way to the other, depositing the first aid kit on the bed before kneeling in front of him. "Hey, it's alright, I'm not gonna-"

Before he could react, Blue's hand flashed out, his face now completely devoid of any fear, reaching under his ribcage and tapping his soul, performing a check and attempting to draw him into a battle. Red's soul, as pumped up with his EXP as it was, resisted the effort easily, but Blue's eyes grew wide as Red's stats were blinked out in front of him.

"You have LV…"

It was a statement, not a question, but Red answered it anyway. "Yes, I do," he said, trying to keep his voice from betraying any emotion. "It's all from years ago, I haven't-"

"Don't touch me!" Blue screamed, jumping back and away from him. "Don't come anywhere near me, you...you murderer !"

Red felt like the entire world had fallen out from underneath him. "Blue…" his voice was so small, so weak. He could feel a burning behind his sockets, and he didn't do anything to stop the tears that started to stream down his face.

"No! Don't call me that! I don't want a nickname from someone who's killed people!" Blue was backed into the wall, but he wasn't cowering. Instead, he looked angrier than Red had ever seen him in the years that they had known each other.

Red took a step forward, immediately regretting it when Blue's eyes lit up with his magic, smoke drifting from both sides. He held up his hands in a placating gesture, trying to calm the smaller skeleton. "I would never do anything to hurt you." he whispered, tears still running down his face.

Blue's chest was heaving, and he continued staring at Red with anger and magic and a threat in his eyes. "Why, exactly, should I trust you?"

There was a long moment of suffocating silence. Then…

"Because you've always trusted me to be better than I ever even dreamed I could be," Red said, simply.

Blue's eyelights went out for a split second, and when they came back, his magic had stopped flaring. He still looked angry, but confusion seemed to be taking some of the fire away. "Do we...do we know each other?" he asked, scrunching his face in a way that Red had long since grown to know very well.

"Yeah, you could say that," he said, still being as quiet and nonthreatening as possible. "Can I please check your breakage? It's starting to bleed through the bandaging."

Blue glanced down, as though he had only just noticed he was injured, then he looked back up at Red, seeming torn. Finally, he nodded and took a few steps towards Red, who beckoned him to lay back on the bed. As he started to peel the bandages away, pulling new ones out of the first aid kit to redress the wound, he could feel the other's eyes on him, watching his every move. The quiet in the room was becoming almost suffocating, and Red worked as fast as he could without injuring Blue further, wanting more than anything to just get out of that room. Blue couldn't have changed this much, could he? He couldn't have just...lost the hope, the trust and kindness, all of the amazing things that made him who he was. That person couldn't just be gone , could he?

Red wrapped the last of Blue's ribs, and made to stand up before a small hand seized his wrist. Red flinched slightly, not having expected the sudden contact. He looked down at Blue, not able to quite meet his eyes. He chose, instead, to focus on the pillow right next to his head. It was graying slightly, an old, limp sort of thing that Red had found in the dump years ago. Blue always said it smelled like him, but he always thought it just smelled like Blue. He used to joke that maybe they were both right, since they were the same person, but Blue argued that he would never go around smelling like tobacco-

"How do we know each other?"

Red didn't know how to respond to that. He was a murderer. Despite his reasons, despite the fact that he hadn't done it since he had met Blue, he was still a murderer. This Blue wouldn't want to know what they were to each other. He searched for words for a few seconds, still unable to meet the soft blue eyes that were almost always shaped into stars or hearts or something of the like but now were nothing more than cold blue circles. "We're...we're real good friends, is all. Known each other for quite a few years." Then he gently pulled his wrist away and took the first aid kit and the bloodied bandages out of the room, leaving Blue to himself.


End file.
